


In the Glass Garden

by Amanitus, plague of insomnia (chiealeman)



Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: Agni being a good friend, Agni is figuring stuff out, Alternate Universe - Bodyguard, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anyway I think it's cute, Banter, Blood and Injury, Ciel is a bitch but what's new there, Hurt/Comfort, I might have written fluff but I wouldn't know fluff if it bit me so, In a quiet sort of way, M/M, Sebastian and Agni are bodyguards for rich kids, Sebastian being a bored slut, Sebastian is still a demon, Smut, and possibly a bit jealous, and yeah some more smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:46:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24187612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amanitus/pseuds/Amanitus, https://archiveofourown.org/users/chiealeman/pseuds/plague%20of%20insomnia
Summary: ‘Your pulse is irregular.’‘It’s fine. It’s normal.’Agni paused. ‘It is skipping every third beat. It is much too slow.’‘It’s normal,’ said Sebastian, ‘for me.’ He opened his eyes. A glitter. And closed them again.And made a sound, because Agni was testing the lips of the gash. The wound was clean, at least. Not the nightmare of a gravel tear. But Agni knew it must be painful, and he knew Sebastian hadn’t taken the codeine.The torn flesh seemed to sting in his own mind. And that was stupid.Agni works with Sebastian. He speaks to him every day, and knows almost nothing about him.When things go wrong, he finds out a little more than he ever expected.
Relationships: Agni/Sebastian Michaelis
Comments: 38
Kudos: 95





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [plague of insomnia (chiealeman)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chiealeman/gifts).



> For the lovely Plague of Insomnia, whose juicy writing gives me so much joy...

‘It’s finally nice out. Why are we inside?’

‘The sun is shining.’ Agni poured the boy’s morning chai carefully. ‘But it is very cold, even now. You must not let the light fool you here. The altitude is different.’

‘I think we should enjoy the sun while it shines,’ said Soma; and Agni had no good answer.

So they went downstairs after breakfast, into the frosty Swiss air. Bright enough to burn your throat, even in April, if the sun hadn’t come over the high walls yet.

And the walls were very high here, in this place. This school. Seventy children from the world’s wealthiest families, and nobody was taking any chances. The garden was beautiful, laid out like a forest behind the big glass box of the Academy; birches, pines. Outside, the streets of Zurich might be busy, but in here existed the illusion of nature for these students who were little more than captive birds. 

Middle-class kids might have an au pair. Rich brats might have a full-time nanny, but these ones had people like Agni: ex-cons, ex-police, ex-military. Semi-retired already, in their aching early thirties. Blackbelts. Gunbelts. Bodyguards.

The garden wasn’t quite empty, even on a cold April morning; bright heads showed against the lawns. From every corner of the earth, blooming here in safety. In the secrecy that only a billion-dollar security system can buy.

And the little English boy was out here, of course, with his laptop, sitting stiffly under the trees on a picnic rug with his dark hoodie pulled low across his eyes, and Soma threw himself onto the grass beside him, disregarding dew and the boy’s frown.

‘You should be sitting out in the sun, Ciel,’ Soma was saying. ‘The magic of Vitamin D, and all of that.’

‘Bullshit.’ The boy didn’t even look up. ‘I don’t fancy cancer, thank you. There are plenty of things that want me dead as it is.’ He wore an eye-patch, out of place on his sharp childish face; he had lost all of his family to murder, and (rumour said) his eye, too. But the line of his mouth was almost a smile at Soma, and Agni was pleased. 

The little English lord was not as cold as he liked to appear. And Ciel Phantomhive could pretend all he liked, but he and Soma had been friends since the first day they’d arrived here, the tech genius’s son and the last of the Phantomhive family; four months ago, and this was the first taste of spring at the Academy.

Agni was not afraid of the sun, and he stood at the hem of light across the lawn, casting a sideways shadow. Watching his young boss, and the little English one. Feeling the sharp Swiss light on his back, soaking into his white silk suit-jacket. Bracing his feet widely, tucking his hands quietly. And this was work. The readiness of his stance. The looseness that must come with long hours of waiting. And the comfortable weight of the holster at his hip, just under his wrist. Readiness.

He saw the other shadow before he saw the man, but he didn’t need to turn to know who it was. The English boy was twelve feet away; the English bodyguard would never be out of hearing.

‘This sun,’ said Agni. He closed his eyes and turned up his face towards the heat of it. ‘I spent six years in Dubai with Soma, and I never appreciated the sun while I had it.’

The warm voice answered beside him. ‘I spent eight months in the Emirates, once.’ That accent. The crisp perfect English that no native Englishman ever had. ‘I’m still shaking the sand from my shoes.’ 

Agni opened his eyes to smile at the man. ‘There’s no sand in the cities, my friend.’

‘I wasn’t in the city.’ The other man’s breath was a cloud in the morning air. And he smiled back, slowly, and Agni saw the glint of his teeth, a little too sharp. And that made exactly four facts Agni knew about the man, now: he hadn’t been in Dubai. His name wasn’t Sebastian Michaelis. He wasn’t actually English. And he was much too good at his job.

But it would do for now. Agni didn’t expect the man to tell him anything near the truth; truth is a liability.

‘You’re not the only one who’s easily pleased,’ said Sebastian, and he nodded at Soma, who lay on his back pointing up at the branches overhead. 

Agni smiled again. ‘But your young master does not look so happy.’

‘Maybe not.’ Sebastian shrugged. ‘Ciel gets off on being miserable. That’s a kind of happiness, isn’t it?’

‘No,’ said Agni. ‘That’s fucked up.’ 

‘That’s five centuries of British repression,’ said Sebastian. ‘It’s only a bit of harmless masochism.’

‘Is there such a thing?’ Agni raised his eyebrows.

‘You tell me. We’re the worst of the lot. Babysitting the spawn of the _nouveau riche_? That’s got to be the definition of masochism.’ He winked at Agni, lazily. ‘Shall we walk? It’s too fucking cold to stand still.’

They walked. In circles, of course, orbiting their boys in the garden. Agni had his hands in his pockets, looking at the sky. Sebastian had his gloved hands behind his back, and scuffed at the wet grass.

Sebastian looked like most of the other bodyguards here; tidy. Nicely dressed; dark jeans and tailored jacket. Inconspicuous in the way a good soldier is, until you looked at him and realised he was not an inconspicuous man. He was startlingly handsome. His dark hair was a bit too long to be completely practical. And he was not without his vanity, Agni observed in some amusement; he painted his nails black. The back of his hand was tattooed, a pointed ring. Like a crown of thorns. He had a slimmer build than the others here; younger than many. Taller than most. Not quite as tall as Agni. 

But when Sebastian tucked his hands behind his back like _that_ , Agni could see the width of the man’s shoulders. The long lines of his neck. And the bulk of the holster beneath his black woollen blazer. 

Rumour at the staff table said --and there were _many_ rumours-- Michaelis once killed a man with a kitchen spoon. Through the eye, apparently. 

Agni wasn’t sure if he believed that, exactly. But he looked sideways at the man who wasn’t English, at his steady pale face and his strange garnet gaze. The wrong-coloured eyes. The man who walked like he was being graded on his posture. Who wasn’t quite a man, who was something more, or less, thought Agni; but he had no plans to ever say it. Or to ask.

It had taken six weeks and cheerful greetings every morning just to get Sebastian to talk about himself-- although he talked almost constantly, the purest bullshit. About the benefit of polymer framing on a handgun. About the peculiarities of German grammar. About cars. Tits. Greyhounds. Burritos. Cricket.

And they had many conversations, in the dining hall and the corridors of the school. Off-duty in the gym, or the library. Agni knew Sebastian’s opinion on everything from the US electoral system to the brutalities of British colonisation in India. But he knew almost nothing of the man himself.

Perhaps today, Agni thought. And he thought this every day.

‘Gregor thinks you do it like the Vikings,’ Sebastian was saying, ‘full hardass bitch.’

And Agni looked blankly at him, trying to catch up with the conversation. And then he did, and he laughed. ‘Oh,’ he said. ‘I see. Something like a berserker, yes?’

‘The principals must be similar, I’d imagine.’ 

‘Maybe.’ Agni knew the others talked about him at the gym. But he found it difficult to explain, himself; the sort of calm, the blind calm that came over him when he was training. In the zone. Focused. As though there was no possibility of losing, of dying, and it was the closest thing to divine possession that he could imagine. But he could not articulate this.

Not even to this man, his friend.

‘Maybe,’ Agni said again. ‘Maybe it is something like an animal, who under pressure knows he must fight or die.’

‘Maybe.’ Sebastian looked at him. His face was difficult to read, as always.

‘And what about you?’ Agni smiled. ‘I have seen you take out Gregor with one hand. Without breaking a sweat.’ _And jump from the second-floor window without twisting your ankle._ _And stab a steak knife through your own hand for a dare. And where was the scar the next week? I saw you take your gloves off._

Agni didn’t say this. 

But he sighed. ‘What is your secret, then?’ He bumped at Sebastian’s shoulder. ‘Do you also become like an animal?’

‘No,’ said Sebastian. He seems to consider. ‘I think I find it simpler never to become human at all.’ He winked again, slowly, and turned back away through the trees towards the boys on the picnic rug. 

Agni followed, frowning. 

And when he ducked under the low branch of the pine tree Sebastian wasn’t there. It was silent in the garden. Soma’s clear voice drifted sing-song from the lawn.

But Agni heard it. The shuffle of the tree branches. Like a bird above him, and he ducked. Instinct.

A dark suit. A shock of white cropped hair. The man had a blade, a sword, and Agni stopped. 

It made no sense.

Agni kicked out, a feint. The man swung his blade. 

Agni ducked again, and this time he took a breath. Sharply in. And out, and he felt the earth spin and slow and grow very simple. He hit out, a single punch. It jarred through his arm. His shoulder. 

The man fell, rolling. And Agni drew in his breath, a gasp, and braced himself. He saw the shadows move.

A second man. No blade, but the stranger yelled. One word.

‘ _Akuma_.’ And the sword was coming down again.

‘I wouldn’t do that,’ said Sebastian. Somewhere on the left.

Agni didn’t know who he was talking to. But he ignored it. So did the white-haired stranger.

Agni heard the whistle of the blade before he even moved. And felt the thump in his chest. Square in the ribs. 

And then he was on his ass on the gravel pathway. Shaking the ringing from his ears. And the man was gone, the man he’d punched, and Sebastian was leaning over him. 

‘Oh, shit.’ Sebastian crouched. ‘Was it too hard?’

‘What the fuck was that for?’ Agni gulped an experimental breath. His tailbone ached where he’d hit the ground. ‘You _kicked_ me.’

‘I blocked you,’ said Sebastian. His note of correction deserved a broken nose. ‘Better than a sword in the guts.’ He extended his hand, braced. And Agni let the man pull him to his feet. 

He half-expected an apology for a booting in the ribs. 

But Sebastian looked more pissed-off than anything. ‘What were you doing?’

‘There were two of them, I--’

‘I was handling it.’ And Sebastian looked at him, just once, sharply. The line of his mouth was pale. ‘Get everybody inside.’ He ducked back under the shadow of the pine garden and was gone, much too easily.

Agni turned back toward the Academy and on the lawn found Gregor, gun in hand. One of the staff security team.

The man called out. ‘Trouble?’ 

‘Get the kids inside,’ Agni said. ‘The library.’ It was a safe-room, the most secure in the building. 

And Gregor went. He was quick, silent. A good man. He was rounding up the kids already and Agni hesitated at the edge of the garden. Sebastian had pushed him off-balance. Kicked him flying, actually. Stepped in front of the intruder himself. His own back to the blade, which was stupid. Against every scrap of training.

Agni frowned at the garden. There should have been something, noise or movement. Where was Sebastian?

The crack of a branch. Beyond the birch trees.

Agni was poised. Waiting.

But the figure was slim, dark-suited. Dark-haired, and Agni felt his hands chill with relief.

‘Nothing?’

‘Nothing.’ Sebastian pushed under the trees and into the open lawn. He still had the pistol in his hand. ‘Fuckers went back over the wall.’

‘Nothing,’ said Agni. Too slowly. He couldn’t keep the doubt out of his voice.

‘I’m not lying,’ said Sebastian. And it sounded cold. ‘I wouldn’t lie.’

‘I know,’ said Agni. He scanned the wall again, the bare garden. ‘But it makes no sense. They were too quick. What were they after?’

‘They were just doing their job,’ said Sebastian. ‘This wasn’t about the children.’ But he had a tense look in his eyes. A narrowing. ‘You could see them?’

‘Two armed men in a fenced enclosure?’ Agni didn’t often fall back on sarcasm. But this was too much. ‘No, I guess I must have missed that part. Ciel is inside. We got them all in safely.’

‘I know,’ said Sebastian. He was putting the gun back into its shoulder holster, his hand tucked under his jacket. It jammed. He swore. And tried again.

‘You know?’

‘I heard. We’ll set up a perimetre tonight.’ Sebastian pushed past him to the swinging glass door of the academy. ‘But I don’t think they’ll be back.’

Agni saw the stain on the side of the man’s grey t-shirt. And caught up with him in two long steps across the empty foyer.

‘I am sure you are aware,’ he said. ‘But you have blood on your clothes.’

‘Quite aware,’ said Sebastian lightly. He didn’t slow on the stairs. ‘Max will be checking perimetres. If he asks about the intruders, tell him you didn’t see anything.’

‘Why would I do that?’ Agni kept pace with him. ‘If they are in danger. If the children are in--’

‘They’re not,’ said Sebastian. ‘This was a territorial thing. It wasn’t about the children.’

‘You know who they were.’

‘I know _what_ they were.’

And they were in the long glass corridor, heading for the staff rooms and the security office. 

‘Some sort of--’

‘Organisation,’ said Sebastian firmly.

‘Mafia?’

‘Similar. Perhaps. Look, go down and check on the kids. I’ll be down later, I need to talk to Max.’

They paused at the door. Agni looked at him. He knew Sebastian was dismissing him. He didn’t like it. ‘Are you okay?’

‘Fuck off, it’s fine.’

Agni caught his arm. 

Sebastian pulled it away. Impatient. ‘Leave it, if you please.’ And somehow his quick politeness was worse than his casual obscenity.

‘You were injured. What was it? A knife?’

‘Shears.’

Agni looked at him. ‘Shears--’

‘More like scissors, really. If I’d known they were fucking reapers I’d never have let them get close. Go and check on Ciel for me.’

Agni didn’t move. ‘We can finish the rounds, if you want to go down to the medic--’

‘I’ll be fine,’ Sebastian said. ‘I heal _very_ well.’ He smiled, coldly.

So Agni left him there at the doorway, and went back down to their own quarters. To the Prince, curled up in the library with the other kids, watching a movie. And the little English boy, sulking. Oblivious. 

As it should be. There are things nobody needs to know. These things are for the better, of course.

There was nothing else Agni could do. 

The Academy was quiet again by breakfast time the next morning, when Agni came downstairs behind Soma. Two steps behind the boy, scanning quietly as they walked; habit, always.

The kids were chattering down in the big cafeteria, the glass-walled corner of the building, and the light fell in puddles like silk over their heads. Their plates. The long refectory tables.

Over Sebastian, who stood at the bottom of the stairs. His back to the solid wall, of course; the doorway on his left; he was as watchful as Agni.

And Agni strolled over to him, once he had a mug of tea in his hand. ‘You want one?’

‘I’ve had mine.’ 

The man seemed to live on cigarettes and weak tea. He didn’t even touch coffee.

‘And how are you doing this morning?’

‘Fine.’ Sebastian looked tired. There was a tightness around the line of his mouth. No more than usual for any of the adults here; rich kids are hard work. But it was out of place on Sebastian’s careful face.

‘No more trouble from this...organisation?’

‘No.’ Sebastian cleared his throat. And again, shifting on his feet.

‘You spoke to security about it.’

‘Yes.’

Too short and quick, his answers. Agni looked at him thoughtfully. 

‘Se- _bast_ -ian.’ The English boy’s voice sang over the other kids. ‘My jacket.’

Sebastian didn’t even turn his head, only flipped his middle finger at the boy across the room. ‘Thinks I’m his fucking butler,’ he said. ‘I don’t get paid enough for this.’

But he turned back towards the stairs, tucking his hands behind his back, and Agni finished his tea. And put the mug down on the end of one of the tables, and followed.

He found Sebastian on the first-floor landing, bent double. Gloved hands braced on his knees.

Agni slowed. Stopped. ‘I told you smoking would get you before a bullet ever did.’

But Sebastian raised his head, and his dark eyes were narrowed. The corner of his mouth was dark. Wet, and Agni crouched at his side. It was a froth of blood. 

‘Shit,’ said Agni. But he was trained for this, too. ‘Does it hurt when you breathe?’

‘Fuck,’ said Sebastian. ‘It hurts when I fucking think.’

‘Your lung,’ said Agni. ‘This is aerated blood. Is it your lung?’

And Sebastian laughed. ‘Fucked if I know,’ he whispered. ‘ _Lungs._ ’

Agni lifted the edge of the man’s jacket. He straightened up. He ignored the thump of his own chest, painful. ‘Has it been bleeding like this all night?’

‘I don’t know.’ Sebastian breathed in carefully, and stood up beside him.

‘If you have been losing blood, we need to know.’

‘I wasn’t paying attention.’ But Sebastian’s words were too light. His thin nostrils were white with tension.

‘You are more afraid of a doctor than you are of bleeding to death. I thought you were a clever man, my friend.’

‘Not afraid,’ said Sebastian. ‘Five hundred years ago they’d stick a leech in your ear and be happy you didn’t die. Now they want to do scans. It’s a fucking inconvenience.’ He smiled shortly.

‘Here.’

‘I’m fine.’ 

‘Here.’ Agni hooked his arm around Sebastian’s shoulders. His throat tightened when Sebastian’s weight slumped against him. And they continued up the stairs towards the top landing, and the elevator.

Sebastian’s open jacket showed the stain coming through his clean t-shirt.

Dark, sticky. Too dark. Some of that should be arterial blood, and Agni glanced down at the pale face, the sheen of sweat glossing the man’s forehead. He slid his hand lower, finding the back waistband of Sebastian’s jeans, and he gripped it as the man’s body swayed. 

Agni stopped on the next landing. He re-adjusted Sebastian’s arm over his neck, braced his own more closely around the man’s back. ‘We will take the elevator,’ he said. 

‘What?’ Sebastian raised his head. He blinked, focusing. ‘My room is down here. Next to Ciel’s.’

‘We are going to the infirmary,’ Agni said. Maybe the man didn’t realise how badly he’d been hurt.

‘No doctors,’ said Sebastian.

Agni stared. ‘There is too much blood. You can’t just bandage this and hope for the best.’

‘No doctors. Don’t fucking mention this. To anybody. _No_ doctors.’ Sebastian’s eyes were angry. Sharp, hot, and Agni looked back at him.

‘Why not?’ But Agni didn’t expect an answer. Some of the bodyguards here had left the military under fucked-up circumstances. One or two had criminal records. Whatever Sebastian’s reason might be, he had a reason, and Agni understood.

And the man healed very well. Apparently. Maybe he knew what he was talking about.

The final step. And the hallway.

They stopped at Sebastian’s door. 

‘Breast pocket,’ said Sebastian, and Agni reached inside the man’s blazer. Felt the pocket, and tugged out the swipe card. And they entered the bedroom.

They were compartmentalised as hotel rooms, the academy quarters; uncurtained glass walls, a view to the garden. Agni’s room was tidy. But Sebastian’s was as blank, as clean and soulless as a new car.

Agni braced himself still as he lowered Sebastian’s weight onto the edge of the bed.

‘Sink cabinet,’ said Sebastian, but Agni was already in the bathroom.

He came back out with the med kit, and watched Sebastian shuffle off his black jacket. One arm, slowly, and he stopped with a grunt, and Agni stepped forward.

They slid the jacket off. And Sebastian lay down. Settled one arm across his face. 

‘Surgical tape?’

‘I have it.’

But Agni had been going through the med kit again. He squeezed two pills from the blister pack, and sat down on the edge of the mattress at Sebastian’s shoulder.

‘Take these. Please.’

‘What is it?’

‘It is codeine based,’ said Agni. ‘Pain killer. You do not have a pre-existing condition?’

Sebastian’s body shook again. Silently, and Agni realised with a shiver that the man was laughing. Or trying to.

‘Fuck off,’ Sebastian whispered. ‘ _Pain_ killers.’

‘Please take them. You should be in a hospital. If you would just--’

‘No,’ said Sebastian. And it was surprisingly soft, this time. ‘It won’t work. Don’t waste your time. Clean the fucking thing. Wrap it up. Leave me alone.’

‘Alright,’ said Agni. Carefully. He went back to the bathroom, and began to fill a bowl with hot water.

He heard the man’s voice, low in the next room. 

‘You don’t have to do this.’

‘Yes,’ said Agni. ‘I do.’ Sebastian had stepped in front of him yesterday. Down in the garden. The spreading stain of blood should be on his own shirt. Between his own ribs.

Agni knew what a broken rib felt like. He wouldn’t make Sebastian pull his clothes off. Wouldn’t make him raise his arms above his head, not with damage to his lungs. 

He found scissors in the cabinet and brought them over and snipped carefully, hem to neck. Across again. Pulling away the stained grey t-shirt fabric, and he found the stab wound. 

It was messy, ragged. Halfway down the span of Sebastian’s ribs. Twin gashes. Scissors, yes; he could almost believe it.

And Agni swallowed hard, and reached for the cloth, the bowl. He had done this before, too. This was no different. First aid; a wound. A patient. It made no difference if the patient was somebody he knew. His colleague. His friend.

Sebastian’s bare chest heaved slowly. Unearthly pale, smooth-skinned. His ribs were prominent when he lay like this. His body was, Agni realised, both leaner and more muscular than he’d expected. His belly was concave. His hip bones were sharp above the waistband of the jeans. Strong, but underweight, his long body. A man who pushed too hard and ate too little.

And the pattern of his muscles jumped as he tried to sit up suddenly.

‘Lie still,’ said Agni.

‘Fuck it.’ Shortly.

And Agni froze. ‘What?’

‘I left my cigarettes downstairs.’

Agni made a noise. ‘You think I’m going to let you smoke. Now? You need a doctor.’

‘I need a cigarette.’

‘Your pulse is irregular.’

‘It’s fine. It’s normal.’

Agni paused. ‘It is skipping every third beat. It is much too slow.’

‘It’s normal,’ said Sebastian, ‘for me.’ He opened his eyes. A glitter. And closed them again.

And made a sound, because Agni was testing the lips of the gash. They were clean, at least. Not the nightmare of a gravel tear. But Agni knew it must be painful, and he knew Sebastian hadn’t taken the codeine.

The torn flesh seemed to sting in his own mind. And that was stupid.

‘That was stupid,’ said Agni. ‘You got in front of me.’

‘It was simple--’ Sebastian coughed. He breathed deeply, and began again. ‘It was a simple calculation.’ All in a breath. A gasp.

‘Calculation.’ Agni focused on his own hands, drawing together the raw edges of the wound. Sebastian’s body was shivering, continuous. But the room was hot. It was shock, the man was going into shock, and Agni felt the slow squeeze of his own chest. Convulsive. ‘How was it a calculation, my friend?’

‘You would have died.’

Agni didn’t raise his head. ‘You still might.’

‘I’ve died before,’ said Sebastian. ‘It never did me any long-term harm.’ His voice was getting rougher.

‘This time might be different.’

And Sebastian paused. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Perhaps.’

He was silent, then. His closed eyelids were blue-veined. Still. 

Agni glanced up as he worked, watching the slow pulse beneath the man’s sharp jawline. He finished taping the wounds. 

His fingers didn’t shake. He was a professional.

When he was finished, he unlaced Sebastian’s polished shoes. Dropped them on the ground. Shifted the bed covers beneath Sebastian’s body, pulling them down, and folded them back over the man, and Agni rested his hand for a moment on Sebastian’s bare chest. Bare and chilled. The thump of the heart was still uneven.

Agni stood up. And he moved around the room silently, picking up the fallen clothes. Putting away Sebastian’s polished shoes in the wardrobe, at the end of the tidy row.

Hanging up the woollen jacket.

He spoke to Gregor in the corridor outside, and made sure the boys were safe. Soma, and Sebastian’s boy.

And then Agni closed the bedroom door, and came back to Sebastian. 

And he made a pot of tea at the tiny kitchenette, and sat down. 

He waited.

Sebastian stirred at half-past one. Agni gave him a drink of water, cradling the man’s head in one careful hand. Sebastian’s temples were damp with sweat.

And the room was quiet again until evening, when Agni checked Sebastian’s dressing again. 

He could do this. It is all training, all a procedure. An injured person must be warm and clean and dry. 

They must feel safe.

Sebastian stirred when Agni turned back the warm covers. When he raised the edge of the adhesive dressing, and saw the dark stain of blood. 

Black, sticky. A trickle from the open flesh. All the way down over Sebastian’s skin to the bed. But it didn’t sink into the sheet, or dampen it, and Agni realised it wasn’t liquid. Something more like dense smoke. Or the tentative tip of a cephalopodic arm. 

Agni pulled his hand away.

And reached out again, slowly. And when he touched the thing, the stuff, it shivered. And seemed to dissolve, but it left no trace.

Agni looked cautiously up at Sebastian’s face.

He found Sebastian watching him. 

Agni cleared his throat. ‘I have never seen anything like it.’ He paused. ‘I have never seen anything like you.’

Sebastian’s eyes were narrowed. ‘And?’

‘And.’ Agni stopped. ‘ _And_ , that is interesting. How are you feeling?’

Sebastian’s eyes glittered beneath his heavy lashes. ‘What sort of question is that?’ And he closed them again. ‘I’m alive.’

‘Yes,’ said Agni. ‘It is a start.’ He laid his hand across the man’s forehead lightly. He wondered if his fingers were shaking. ‘It is a very good start. I would prefer it if you stay alive, too. _May_ I call a doctor?’

‘No.’

Agni had been expecting that answer. But he sighed as he reached for the glass of water. ‘I do not know how much more I can do.’ He spoke very quietly. “I want to help, my friend. But this is beyond me.’

He held the cup still. And Sebastian did not even raise his hand to take it, only sipped from the rim, his eyelids heavy.

And he looked up at Agni. ‘It’s fine.’ He licked his lips slowly. ‘I trust you,’ he said.

‘Ah,’ said Agni. He put the cup back down. ‘That is very kind of you. But I do not share your faith.’

‘It isn’t faith.’ The man’s eyes were closed now. ‘Is it healing up?’

‘It is slightly better. It is as I expected.’

‘Ah.’ This didn’t seem to be the right answer. Sebastian’s face was gathered sharply. 

So Agni asked him. ‘Will it heal?’

‘Of course.’

‘Will it heal?’

‘It should.’

Agni looked at him. ‘Sebastian.’ He hesitated.

And Sebastian looked away towards the window. The room was in the glow of evening, and its reflection hung over the tops of the trees outside. Suspended, the bed and chair and Sebastian’s figure, pale against the glass garden. ‘There’s no reason why it wouldn’t,’ Sebastian said. ‘I just let them get too close, that’s all.’

‘So you know who they were.’

‘Mhm.’

‘And who are they?’

‘Inhuman.’ 

‘They were very fast, certainly.’ Agni paused to watch Sebastian’s face. The steadiness of his strange hot eyes, though they were blurring with pain. Fixed on the window. ‘They were very good at their job.’

‘They were inhuman.’ Sebastian’s eyes shifted back to Agni’s, and they held a glitter of their usual teasing light. ‘I don’t know how the fuck you could see them. Too long around me. Probably. They paid you a compliment, you know.’

‘I do not understand.’ Sometimes an injured person will be incoherent. Fearful.

But Sebastian seemed to find something funny. ‘Reapers,’ he whispered. ‘ _Shinigami_. They were gods of death.’

‘Did they?’ Agni was almost finished, now. With the damaged flesh. The slick of blood. He focused on his hands, on his work. He didn’t think of other things. ‘I think it was not my day to die, then.’

‘No,’ said Sebastian, and he shook his head a little muzzily. ‘You see, they thought you were a demon.’

Agni paused. ‘They were misinformed, then.’ He closed the med-kit, and rubbed down his hands with a disinfectant wipe. 

‘They were indeed,’ said Sebastian. 

‘What was it that they did not know, my friend?’ Agni looked at him. ‘Why would they think a man is a demon?’

But Sebastian’s eyes were closed again. And Agni would have to wait. For an answer, or for silence. 

For tomorrow.

Agni knew he should call for the medic. There was one downstairs; Dr Allaman. A sensible woman. Discreet. But what would she find if she looked at the man’s wounds? At his blood, his body?

 _A fucking inconvenience_ , said Sebastian. The man who was not quite a man.

Agni did not call the medic. He went down to the cafeteria, and brought himself back a bowl of soup. He didn’t bring any food for his patient. For his friend. He didn’t think Sebastian needed it.

He didn’t know what Sebastian needed.

And then Agni slept, on the wooden chair beside Sebastian’s bed, with his crossed ankles propped on the foot of the mattress.

He could wait for tomorrow.

It was dawn when he woke. There had been a noise.

Sebastian was saying something quietly.

Agni stretched. His back, his stiff calves. He stood, and he brought the water glass for Sebastian.

‘Good morning.’ 

‘Mhm,’ said Sebastian. ‘With two cigarettes and a blow job it could be.’ He drank the water. And he winked, so quickly it was only a shiver of his dark eyelashes.

He was more alert. His eyes were present. His face seemed sharpened, refined by pain.

‘Are you hungry?’

‘I’m fine.’

‘You haven’t eaten.’

‘My shirt.’

‘Mhm?’ Agni was checking the injury. He wasn’t listening.

‘My t-shirt, Agni.’

‘Oh.’ Agni raised his head. ‘I cut it up. Remember?’ But an injured person can suffer memory trauma, sometimes. 

Sebastian made a sound that could only be described as a hiss. ‘It was fucking cashmere.’

‘You bled all over it.’ Agni got up from the chair. He was scanning the shelves in Sebastian’s wardrobe. He opened a drawer. ‘What kind of stupid fuck bleeds on cashmere?’ 

‘The sort of stupid fuck who never planned on bleeding.’

Agni returned to the bed. He shook out the clean shirt, the sweat pants, and Sebastian’s head shifted against the pillow.

‘Going somewhere, are we?’

‘Not far,’ said Agni. 

He set the water running in the bathroom. When he came back to the bed Sebastian was sitting upright, looking bare in just his dark jeans and the pad of adhesive gauze taped on his side. He was pulling the gauze off slowly, his pale forehead creased in a frown. His shoulders were loose and tired. 

‘I don’t need help.’ He stood.

‘No?’

‘No.’

Agni helped him. Shuffling down his jeans, and Sebastian leaned against the bathroom wall. Waiting. The crumple of his boxers. Black silk, and Agni almost smiled. He wore his secrets against his skin, this one.

Sebastian was unsteady in the two steps to the hot water, and Agni stood at the open door of the glass cubicle. The raw gash stained the man’s skin like a seep through snowfall, edged in filth.

Agni watched Sebastian’s cautious bare feet. His long legs, and calves tensed at the slip of the tiles, the ache of standing. 

‘I will find a wash-cloth.’

‘I’m fine.’

Sebastian ran his hand through his wet hair, over his neck. His chest. Absently. He was steadying himself with his other hand against the glass. He didn’t need Agni, not at this moment.

Agni wouldn’t have minded helping though. He could step into the water, take Sebastian’s wet fingers in his own. Run his own hand over the spare lines of the man’s broad back, pale-skinned; his lean hips. The high curve of his ass, and the smudge of dark hair down the front of his body. The shadow-flush of his heavy cock, half-stiffened.

Sebastian looked back over his shoulder. His eyes were warm, slow. ‘You can go,’ he said.

‘Settle down,’ said Agni. ‘I am not looking at you.’

‘You are,’ said Sebastian.

‘I am.’ Agni smiled. ‘You are naked. It’s difficult to miss.’

Sebastian said something inaudible, leaning into the gush of the shower. And pulled his head out again, sluicing the water from his face with one hand like the children who bathe at the riverside in Bengal. 

A curiously unconscious motion, and Agni swallowed. ‘I’m sorry?’

‘I said you’re supposed to be making me feel comfortable. Aren’t you? Some fucking nurse you are.’ 

‘You are not the best of patients, either.’

‘What?’ Sebastian flicked him a look. ‘I am _entirely_ perfect. Actually.’ He ducked back into the shower, hanging his dark head in the steaming water.

It was difficult to disagree with him. 

Agni tried, though.

‘You should not still be bleeding,’ he said when Sebastian turned off the taps. When he handed over the towel, and Sebastian began to dry himself off.

But Agni didn’t wait in there to hear the answer. 

When Sebastian came back out into the bedroom his hair was messier, but he wasn’t much drier. ‘I shouldn’t be bleeding. Really?’ He wasn’t wearing the towel. ‘I thought that was normal procedure for somebody who’d been stabbed.’

Agni took the towel from Sebastian’s hands. ‘Normal, yes.’ He looked at Sebastian, at his slow smile, his bottomless eyes. ‘Not normal for you, though. Is it?’

Sebastian didn’t answer. He looked away, towards the window. And he stood still, patiently, as Agni dried down his back. His firm chest. The glisten of water in the dark hair of his groin. The softened swing of his cock. And his bare legs, shivering now. 

‘So I’m not normal.’ As Agni pulled up the sweat pants for him.

‘You said you are perfect,’ said Agni. ‘Perfect is not normal.’

Sebastian pulled the clean t-shirt over his head. Pulled it on in three long motions, and gasped. And pushed the tangled hair from his eyes.

‘That’s fair,’ Sebastian said. ‘Yes.’ He sank onto the edge of the bed, and lay down again. He arched his neck, restless against the pillow. His hands were loose on the covers. One white, one marked.

Agni heard Sebastian’s sigh as he sat down and re-dressed the wound. It was not infected. It was healing. But it was slow. Slow, and there was nothing Agni could do. 

‘Hungry?’

‘No.’

‘You do not eat much, do you?’

‘No.’

‘Will you tell me what you need?’

‘Nothing.’

‘Alright.’ Agni pulled up Sebastian’s covers and sat down on the chair beside the bed. ‘I will let you rest, then.’

Sebastian’s eyes were half-lidded, following his movements. ‘Are they your only questions?’

Agni sat still. ‘Is there something else I should be asking you?’

Sebastian closed his eyes. ‘You can ask. If you want.’

‘If you wanted to tell me,’ said Agni, ‘you would have told me.’

He watched Sebastian’s mouth curve quietly. 

‘Go on,’ Sebastian said. ‘Three questions. What are they?’

Agni looked down at Sebastian’s fine hands. The slow pulse along his bare throat. ‘Are you human?’

‘No.’

Agni cleared his throat. ‘Are you a demon?’

‘Yes.’ 

Agni thought Sebastian was watching him, the merest slit of heat between closed lashes. He was silent.

‘Third question,’ said Sebastian. Tersely. His eyes were closed.

‘Is there anything else you need, my friend?’

Sebastian did not answer. He was smiling. 

Then he moved his shoulders, slowly, and sighed. ‘It’s fucking cold, actually.’

Agni stood, and crossed to the heater. He adjusted the dial, and heard the whir of the electronic vents in the wall behind them. He could see himself moving in the uncurtained reflection, a pale shadow in the dim glass garden of Sebastian’s room. A living ghost. He wasn’t afraid of himself. Not of anything.

When he returned to the bedside he looked at Sebastian’s closed lashes, too dark against the sickly white of his skin. 

‘You should try to sleep now.’ 

‘Is there a blanket?’

‘There is one here,’ said Agni. He pulled it higher over Sebastian’s chest. 

‘I can’t feel it.’

‘It is a feather quilt. It is light in weight, that is all. I have the heating on,’ said Agni. ‘Should I turn it up again?’

‘No,’ said Sebastian. His hand curled restlessly on the covers.

‘Do you want another blanket?’

‘I _want_ a fucking fireplace.’

‘This system is solar powered,’ said Agni. He spoke quietly. Sometimes an injured person will have unreasonable complaints. ‘It is as warm as Swiss-designed efficiency can make it. It is almost warm enough for me.’

‘Fuck efficiency,’ said Sebastian quietly. 

And sometimes they don’t want a reasonable answer.

Agni sat down on the edge of Sebastian’s bed. He leaned forward, pressing his fingertips to the side of Sebastian’s neck. Still hot, damp. The pulse, too slow and strange. 

Agni looked at Sebastian’s restless hand. He hesitated. Then he bent his head and kissed it lightly. It felt hot and dry. It twitched under his lips.

There was a pause. And Sebastian stirred, his eyes fluttering, as though he was already at the edge of sleep.

‘Going somewhere?’ he asked. A murmur.

‘Mhm,’ said Agni. ‘No. Not as long as you need me.’

‘Good,’ said Sebastian. 

Agni looked down at his pale face. Worn-out, bone-fine. Perfect. He lay down slowly on the bed, lowering himself onto his elbow. And onto his side, resting his head on the pillow beside Sebastian’s heavy head. Close against the long still line of Sebastian’s body, and he settled his arm over his chest. Not his chest; no pressure on the injury.

Lower, over his hips beneath the blanket.

‘You must sleep,’ Agni said quietly. 

‘Mhm,’ said Sebastian. ‘Must I, now.’ But he turned his head, just a fraction, until Agni felt the touch of the cheek against his own. ‘Is that an order?’

‘Only a request,’ said Agni. He wanted to close his eyes. But he didn’t want to lose this, the clean line of Sebastian’s profile. The shape of his cheekbone, his lips, sharp against the dim room. ‘A request. Because I am tired. I cannot do anything more for you.’ 

It felt like failure to admit it. A hot ache in his bones. It felt like something else, too.

‘Shut up.’ Sebastian sighed. His breath was soft over Agni’s chin. ‘You have done enough. This is enough.’

‘I can turn up the heating.’

‘Don’t fucking move.’ 

Agni closed his eyes. He let it unfold, the slow thunder of his own pulse. He smiled. And felt the fingers curled beside his own, quiet on the covers. The merest brush. The back of his fingers.

‘This is enough,’ said Sebastian again. His voice was low. Only a whisper. ‘This.’

And Agni was inclined to agree with him.

  
  
  
  
  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to _@plague of insomnia _for the chats, and the opportunity to write this lovely pairing!__

Agni woke, and wondered why. It was midday. He couldn’t remember why he’d been asleep at all. He wasn’t under the covers. And the ceiling above him wasn’t his ceiling. The light was wrong.

His arm was still curled beside Sebastian’s.

Agni smiled slowly and stretched himself carefully against the mattress. And sat up. 

Sebastian lay quiet next to him. The man was sleeping. But he was not a man, was he?

Agni wanted to doubt it. But Sebastian’s sleep looked sound, his cheek turned towards the pillow and one arm tucked beneath it. He looked human enough. And Agni hadn’t realised until he saw it; until he saw Sebastian like this, still limp and silent in his crumpled sheets. He hadn’t realised how inhumanly _fresh_ Sebastian usually managed to appear.

His dark hair was messy now. It wasn’t a practical haircut. Too long over his eyes, too short at the sides. He didn’t look inhuman. _Demon_. Agni tested the word in his mind. But he didn’t know what a demon might look like, and perhaps Sebastian wanted to look like this; slim, fine-boned. Double-edged beauty. Ink and ivory: the curve of his closed eye-lashes as dark against his cheek as the ebony gloss of his black nails. 

And the room must have been warm enough for Sebastian after all; the blanket was pushed down low and loose over his hips over the grey t-shirt he wore. The lean curve of his arm looking almost as white as the linen under it. The smooth underside of his bare arm. 

‘You’re doing that thing again.’

Agni glanced up. Surprised. Sebastian’s closed eyes hadn’t moved. ‘What thing?’

‘Looking at me. Close your fucking mouth, you’re drooling.’

Agni grinned. ‘You need to cut your hair.’

‘I like my hair. It’s Byronic.’

‘It’s fucking not,’ said Agni, ‘it’s an emo nightmare. You need to cut it.’

‘What, like yours?’ Sebastian’s lashes shifted open. 

Agni found himself tugged forwards by the front of his t-shirt. A jolt, and Sebastian’s face was very near. His long dangerous eyes. And the demon raised his other hand to rumple it through Agni’s hair. Agni kept it cropped neatly, professionally. Not like the tangled fall of dark hair over Sebastian’s forehead. 

‘Why not?’ Agni raised his eyebrows at Sebastian. His hand was on the mattress, spread for balance. He was close enough to see the feverish gloss of the demon’s eyes. The flare of his sensitive nostrils. ‘What’s wrong with it?’

Sebastian’s fingers were slow and teasing, rubbing deep into Agni’s hair. ‘Like this?’ He smiled. ‘Nothing to pull. Useless.’ His gaze dropped to Agni’s eyes. And then lower. His hand was still tucked tight in Agni’s shirt. And his gaze was trailing down over his face, slow as fingers.

Agni felt it, too, like fingers. Cool and light over his cheek.

‘Mhm,’ said Sebastian suddenly. As though he’d found something. He let go of Agni’s shirt. ‘Go and get your lunch,’ he said. ‘You’re hungry.’

Agni sat back and ran his own hand through his hair. ‘Anything you need?’

‘Yes,’ said Sebastian. ‘Nothing you’ll find in the cafeteria, though.’ He closed his eyes again. ‘Off you go. Take the key-card.’ He was smiling.

Agni went. Downstairs, slowly. Smiling too. And got himself a bowl of soup, and sat at the wide bright window to eat.

Soma was over at one of the long refectory tables in the middle of a group. Talking loudly-- Agni could _see_ the volume by the gestures of the boy’s hands-- and he caught sight of his bodyguard and waved across the room. 

The dark shine of Soma’s hair, a long ponytail, and his flashing smile. Sunlight reborn; and Agni felt warmer just watching it; some people are like that, simply and irresistibly, and your eyes return to them. And again.

The English boy was beside Soma. Ciel didn’t so much as smile. But he was there, wasn’t he? Sitting at his side. Listening, even if he pretended not to. He chose to sit there. He liked the sunlight, too.

Agni went back to eating. 

Some people are the opposite. Some people are like satellites, and they circle slowly. By the time you see what it is they’re orbiting, the thing’s collapsing already.

‘Where is he?’

Agni looked around from the window. It was the English boy, skinny in his tight black jeans. His pointed chin was sulky.

‘Where is he? What’s he done?’

‘Ah. Mr Phantomhive.’ Agni put down his spoon. ‘Sebastian is upstairs. I thought Gregor told you.’

‘People tell me a lot of things,’ said the boy. ‘I like to check my sources. What’s he done?’ 

Ciel’s visible eye was a shard of blue, and Agni wondered if the kid knew what his bodyguard was. 

‘Sebastian has not done anything,’ Agni said. And he decided to risk it. ‘He was injured, and he is resting for a few days. If there is anything you need, you may ask me or the other staff. I am sure there is no reason to feel unsafe while--’

‘Injured?’ The boy’s gaze was much too understanding. ‘Tell the lazy sod to get off his arse and do his job. I’m waiting.’

‘I will let him know.’ 

Agni couldn’t hide his smile when Ciel turned away and returned to the others. All the money in the world couldn’t buy the little shit some manners.

He watched the kids milling around at the doorway when the bell rang, when they filed out slowly and back to their classes. Mathematics and Mandarin and Economics. Geopolitics. Everything they’d need to rule the world. The Phantomhive boy probably knew it all already. How much of it did Sebastian know already? 

Geopolitics must have a different look when your bodyguard is older than the Pyramids.

Agni finished his lunch. 

He went for a walk around the Academy building, down to the steaming echo of the heated indoor pool; and around to the squash courts, empty while everyone was in class-- just boxes, more glass boxes. And he walked back up, all the way to the security offices and the windows overlooking the city. Up here he was high enough to see over the walls and out to the jumbled rooftops, apartment buildings and offices and wire-sharp church spires. They were living in a city here, even if it was easy to forget. 

Far from home.

But home is sometimes not a place, and Agni didn’t miss any of the cities he’d lived in. Or the one where he’d been born. Although Paris had been nice, for six rather interesting months; he grinned quietly out the window.

Home isn’t a place. His home was with Soma.

When Agni let himself back into Sebastian’s quarters, the rumpled bed was empty. There was a half-glass of water on the clean bench-top of the kitchenette. The white sliding door to the bathroom was closed and a tap was running noisily behind it.

Agni knocked. ‘Okay?’

The tap was turned off. ‘Of course.’ Coldly behind the closed door.

‘I’m sure you know better than to remove that dressing.’

‘Of course.’ The sliding door opened. Sebastian had taken his t-shirt off. And the adhesive dressing, too, and Agni sighed.

‘You need to leave that on if you expect it to heal.’

Sebastian didn’t answer. He shrugged and turned back to the sink. ‘Go do whatever you need to do,’ he said over his shoulder. ‘I’m not going to die before you get back.’

Agni looked at the tense curve of Sebastian’s bare shoulders twisting as the demon began to re-apply the dressing. The line of his back. His long indented spine dipping down into the waistband of his black sweatpants. The way he leaned his hip against the porcelain edge of the sink for balance.

‘Do you need me to--’

‘No,’ said Sebastian.

‘You should not be doing this yourself.’

‘Yes, well.’ His voice was muffled as he tested the adhesive patch with cautious fingers. ‘I’ve taken care of myself for a very long time. Piss off and do something useful.’

‘Not unless you come back to bed.’ 

And Sebastian raised his head. ‘Oh,’ he said in a different tone of voice. ‘Well, if you’re offering--’ He was finished. And when he turned around he was smiling. ‘You didn’t bring me anything to eat?’

Agni stepped out of the way to let him pass. 

Sebastian was not quite steady on his bare feet between the bathroom door and his waiting bed. He held himself upright. Too stiffly.

‘You did not ask for anything,’ Agni said. 

Sebastian was rolling onto his bed, on top of the covers. Frowning at the twist of his body. Settling back into the pillow. ‘No cigarettes?’

‘No.’ 

‘No blowjob either, I suppose.’ Sebastian’s fine brows arched in a dangerous sort of mischief.

Agni grinned. ‘I can make you a cup of tea.’

Sebastian looked at him steadily. And looked away towards the window. ‘Black with three sugars,’ he said.

Agni switched on the electric kettle. 

‘I’d settle for a handjob, actually. I’m edgy as fuck.’

Agni grinned and ignored him. ‘I spoke to Ciel. He wanted to know how you’re doing.’

Sebastian snorted. ‘He knows me. If I’m alive, I’ll live.’

‘He knows all about it?’ 

‘That’s why I’m here.’ Sebastian shrugged his bare shoulders. He looked clean and pale on the soft messy bed. ‘His parents and I came to an arrangement. He’s my boss until he turns eighteen. Then he’s out on his own.’

Agni leaned against the counter while he waited for the water to boil. ‘What kind of an arrangement?’

‘The usual kind. Blood-binding.’ The demon’s face was set coolly. ‘Haven't you ever seen a horror movie? The candles and the summoning and the sacrificial goats and the--’

‘Oh,’ said Agni. ‘Is it really like that?’

‘No,’ said Sebastian. ‘It’s just a shitload of paperwork. But they thought he was worth it. I’m not so sure, but there’s no accounting for human sentimentality.’

‘He seems like a smart child,’ Agni said. He found the teaspoons and started hunting for mugs up in the kitchenette cabinet overhead. ‘Smug, but clever.’

‘Oh, he is. Pain in the bloody arse, though. Too old to have any manners and too young to fuck.’

Agni bumped his head on the cabinet door. ‘Oh?’ Less a question than a gasp. 

‘Hm.’ Shortly. ‘What about yours? His mother’s in tech, isn’t she?’

‘Yes,’ said Agni. ‘Information technology. Soma is her youngest child. He is a good person.’

‘Are you dicking him?’

Agni lined up the clean mugs. Carefully. ‘Soma is seventeen.’

‘Not my question.’

‘He is my employer.’ Agni glanced back over his shoulder.

‘Still not my question. I’m not judging you, he’s a cute kid.’

Agni laughed. Out loud, harder than he meant to, but the blankness on Sebastian’s face was actually ridiculous. 

‘ _No_. I work for him. His mother pays my expenses and I keep him alive and shit, do you know how this job even works?’

Sebastian was unashamed. ‘I just thought the two of you seemed close.’

‘We are,’ said Agni. ‘I have known Soma since he was nine years old. I met him by accident in Mumbai. He was just a kid crossing a road, and he was nearly hit by a car, and I grabbed his shirt. Very simple. And his family offered me a job.’

‘You saved his life. That’s rather romantic, don’t you think?’ Sebastian winked.

‘It isn’t like that.’

‘Alright, then.’ Sebastian sniffed. And changed the subject. ‘So it’s the Ninth Grade math teacher then? Melissa.’ Or maybe not.

Agni shrugged. Smiled. ‘I have no time for maths teachers. Not in this job.’

‘No?’ Sebastian raised himself on one arm lazily. Winced, and lay back again. ‘I imagine that gets old fast.’

‘You know how it is.’ 

And he must. Sebastian kept to himself. He talked to everyone, flirted with most, was popular rather than not. But apart, somehow. Agni had wondered over it. 

‘I do. I keep myself entertained, though.’ Sebastian flopped one arm over his face. It didn’t quite hide the gleam of his eyes.

‘I am sure you do.’

Agni was expecting the question. 

‘And you?’

There it was. 

No point lying, really. It was not a matter of pride. ‘It’s-- well.’ Agni cleared his throat. ‘It has been a while.’

‘How long?’ Sebastian’s gaze was steady. Twinkling.

‘Long.’ Agni grinned. 

‘Having-a-bad-week long, or _draught_ long?’ And Sebastian was eyeing him now, slowly, with a hungry sort of heat in his eyes.

Agni thought about it. About the last time he’d had a weekend off and descended into the Old City and met a charming young man from Amsterdam who had hair like golden silk and a very obliging mouth. The last time and the only time, three months ago. But if Sebastian meant more than that-- shit. Saudi? or Paris. Either way--

‘Draught,’ Agni said.

Sebastian raised one eyebrow. ‘Weeks?’

Agni smiled. ‘Years.’

Sebastian shuffled his shoulder against the pillows behind him. ‘That’s not a draught. That’s the fucking _Sahara_ , my friend.’

‘I’m used to it.’

‘No wonder you’re always in a shitty mood.’

Agni was unworried. ‘Mhm. Three sugars?’ 

‘Three. And not a grain less or I’ll gut you.’

Agni spooned the sugar. _My friend._ The demon’s gentle irony was pointed as a kitten’s claw.

‘And you’re seriously not banging the kid.’

‘It isn’t my style.’

‘Your style being wheatgrass juice and yoga, clearly.’

Agni paused as though he was considering. ‘Wheatgrass juice is not so bad. If you mix in enough cacao powder--’

‘I thought as much. Fucking puritan.’

Agni smiled over his shoulder. Widely. ‘No,’ he said. ‘No.’ And while they waited for the kettle to boil he told Sebastian a bit about his job before Soma. Bodyguard to a Bollywood star, prince of the guy’s whole entourage. The parties. The film sets. Packing two pistols and a pocketful of coke. The pretty girls, and the pretty boys, and the Maserati.

‘Entourage.’

‘Yes.’ The kettle hummed, and Agni switched it off. 

Sebastian’s brows arched slowly. ‘Indeed,’ he said drily. And he was silent for almost twelve seconds. ‘And did you get bored with this repetitive and unfulfilling life of pleasure, you ridiculous fucking dickhead?’

Agni filled the mugs slowly. ‘People change. Soma’s family took me in. They were decent people, and I wanted to see if I could do it. If I could be even a shadow of what the kid thought I was.’

‘And?’ 

‘And. You know the rest. Wheatgrass juice and yoga.’

He carried the tea over to Sebastian, who waved for him to leave it on the bedside table. Agni set the brimming mug down carefully, and from the corner of his eye he could see Sebastian raising himself on his elbow. The strain in Sebastian’s bare chest, the tendons along the side of his long neck as he hauled himself upright. 

Agni pulled over a chair and sat down with his own tea. ‘Sweet enough for you?’

‘Ugh. Yes.’ Sebastian’s lip curled over the rim of his mug. ‘It isn’t the sugar I want, only the energy.’

Agni eyed the demon’s sharp collar-bone. His pointed elbows. ‘So you do not eat.’

‘Only the screaming souls of misguided mortals.’ Sebastian sipped. ‘When I can get them.’

‘That sounds tasty.’

Sebastian smiled. His teeth looked sharper than any man’s should be. ‘Tasty. Yes.’

His eyes looked shadowy. His lids were dark and heavy.

‘What?’

Agni must have been looking too long.

‘You seem tired.’

‘I _was_ stabbed.’ Sebastian’s emphasis was dry. ‘It isn’t going to be pretty.’ He tipped his head slowly. Set his mug back on the bedside table. ‘Is it pretty you want?’

Agni didn’t answer that. ‘I have not seen you look human before.’

‘Hmm. It’s been a while since this has happened.’

‘And what happened last time?’

‘I can’t recall.’ Sebastian’s dark eyes were unreadable. ‘I’m fairly sure I survived, though.’

Agni grinned. ‘I am asking too many questions.’ 

‘You haven’t asked any. _None._ I tell you I’m not human, and you don’t ask. Max doesn’t know half what you know about me, and _he_ never shuts up about it. But not you.’ Sebastian flicked him a smile. ‘You know that’s not normal, right?’

‘I don’t trust your idea of normal.’

‘You’re clearly not completely unintelligent, though. You aren’t curious about me?’ 

Agni met his keen garnet gaze. ‘Are you going to tell me anything?’

Sebastian’s eyes glittered. ‘No.’

‘I didn’t think so.’ Agni paused. ‘I do not need to know the rest.’

‘Good.’ Sebastian’s eyes narrowed in approval. ‘There’s not much to know, anyway. I’m here, and I’m on a job. Working for the little shit downstairs. Anything before that doesn’t matter.’

‘Fair enough,’ said Agni. ‘I know what you mean. I am not really the person that I used to be. We are always dying and reborn, I think.’

‘Mhm.’ Sebastian picked up his tea again. He drained it in three long gulps. 

Agni’s mug was still blisteringly hot in his hands, and he put it down. ‘You should be trying to sleep.’

‘I haven’t slept this much in decades.’ The demon’s voice was deep with disgust. ‘It’s such a waste of time. And you do it every night?’

‘Most nights.’ Agni considered. ‘I don’t get bored as easily as you do.’

He crossed to Sebastian’s wardrobe and pulled out a long-sleeved shirt, a grey one. Everything in Sebastian’s closet was black or white or marle grey. 

‘Here,’ he said. ‘Put something on. Last night you were bitching about the cold.’ 

‘I was being considerate.’ Sebastian smiled slowly. ‘I thought you were enjoying the view, and I didn’t want to ruin your fun.’

Agni put one knee on the bed to help him, pulling the shirt over Sebastian’s head and pulling it straight. 

The demon smoothed the hair back from his eyes. ‘Alright,’ he said, amused. ‘You’ve done your job. Go and have a break.’ He was thumping the pillow next to him, and lay down slowly. ‘Go and fuck the math teacher or something.’

Agni sat down on the bed to check the demon’s injury, bumping Sebastian’s hand out of the way. Sliding up the shirt and lifting the edge of the dressing.

‘That’s more drama than it is worth,’ he answered. ‘I’m too old for that shit.’ 

The cut was still dark-edged, clean and sealed and beginning to close over. The bleeding had stopped, at least.

‘How old are you?’

‘Thirty. Ish.’

Sebastian made a sound. ‘Infant.’

Agni eyed the demon’s thin hands fidgeting on the sheets. ‘Alright. How old are you then?’

‘Take a guess.’

Agni paused, looking up. The sharp line of Sebastian’s jaw. The smooth fine skin of his throat, his cheeks. ‘You look twenty-five. Ish.’

‘Hmm,’ said the demon. ‘Close. You’re only off by a few zeros.’

‘Lucky guess.’

‘You ought to fuck me.’

Agni didn’t look up as he fixed the adhesive pad back in place. He made no sign at all that he’d heard. Not until he’d cleared his throat and could breathe again.

‘Your injury,’ he said. He grinned slowly. ‘You should not be straining it.’

Sebastian made a thoughtful noise. ‘I could stand against the wall.’

‘You’re not so steady on your feet.’

He raised his eyes to Sebastian’s briefly, and the demon was smiling. 

‘Hmm,’ said Sebastian. 

Agni stood up and put the chair back over at the little table. He felt the demon’s gaze follow him.

‘You could bend me over the bed.’

‘No pressure on the wound.’

A pause as Agni collected their cups and put them back on the counter. He hadn't drunk his own tea.

‘I could always kneel on the floor.’

‘Your ribs. You can’t arch your back.’ Agni stopped at the bedside again. ‘Do you want the covers on?’

Sebastian looked away to the window, the shimmer of wind-blown green pines and bare silver birch. ‘No, I don’t.’ Stiffly.

‘Okay,’ said Agni. ‘Soma is going to the cinema tonight but I will come up when we get back, and see if you need anything.’ He hesitated. It seemed wrong to leave Sebastian here, even if the demon had told him he didn’t need food. Or sleep. But it was still wrong, somehow. ‘If you want me to bring you--’

‘I’m not a kid.’ Sebastian flicked his hand towards the door. ‘Run along, now.’

Agni went back downstairs. 

His own quarters were bare and neat. But different from Sebastian’s; Agni looked around as he dropped his keys on the counter. The open layout was almost identical, mirrored by the layout of the building; bathroom door, and built-in wardrobe, and bed, and a small table in front of the big glass wall. And then the line of the kitchenette counter. A simple room. But even Agni’s tidiness left traces of life, books and photographs and a stray sock left on the carpet. 

He put his phone on the table beside the bed. And Sebastian’s key-card.

He checked the time. Soma would be finished with classes soon. 

Agni showered and dressed and met the kids downstairs in the Academy foyer, Soma and the girl he was taking to the cinema; she was as loud as he was, a vivid bright-voiced little brunette, and Agni exchanged a grin with her bodyguard as they watched Soma hold the glass door open for her wheelchair. The two kids were arguing over each other, a mix of German and English and French, and it was clear that the girl was the one who was taking Soma out, actually; her bodyguard was going to drive them all down to the city in one of the Academy vehicles

‘I didn’t expect to find anyone bossier than Soma,’ Agni said, falling into step behind the other man on the way to the parking garage, and Wolf laughed. 

A rumble of a laugh; the guy was broad-shouldered, blond-- ex-military, Agni thought. So big he made his client look like a doll, so big that it hardly mattered if anyone could instantly spot him as a jacket. Sometimes subtlety isn’t needed.

‘Miss Sieglinde has a mind of her own,’ Wolf said. His accent was as warm and heavy as his little client’s. ‘At least she knows what she wants. And we all know the bossiest piece of shit around here is the Englander brat.’

‘Phantomhive?’ Agni laughed. ‘He’s a bitch, yes. But his guard is worse.’

Wolf grinned. ‘The body dog who paints his nails? There is something about him--’

‘There are many things about him,’ said Agni, and he was still smiling when Wolf stepped around to lift Miss Sieglinde into the car and pack her wheelchair into the back of the Jeep.

Zurich was busy on a Friday evening. The noise, a perpetual hum, streets and the clatter of life. It was easy to forget all this was out here, cafes and car-parks and traffic, after the quiet routine of the Academy building. Soma liked the city; he liked noise and colour. So did Agni. He had to admit it was claustrophobic sometimes, the safety of the school enclosure.

He felt it when they returned from the cinema and were pulling back into the Academy’s parking garage. It was like closing a library door behind you. A step into silence, the hush of trees and safety. He looked up at the building, a glitter of glass and onyx, and the gleam of lights within. 

Sebastian’s room would be on the other side, looking over the width of the garden. But it was nighttime, and now the wide window wouldn’t be looking over anything. His room would be reflected back at him.

Agni settled Soma safely back in his room-- a mess of a room, a riot of posters and clothes tossed everywhere-- and left the kid watching TV quietly. 

He went upstairs and let himself into Sebastian’s quarters, and closed the door as silently as he could; the room was almost dark. Only the bedside lamp was on. Sebastian was in bed. Under the covers, curled on his side, his back to the door.

Agni hesitated. He didn’t want to wake Sebastian if he was asleep, and his hand was back on the door handle already.

‘Sit down,’ said the demon. Muffled into the pillow. ‘Mhm. Actually, I could do with some tea.’

Agni pulled off his jacket and hung it on a chair. ‘Is that a request?’

‘Well, if you’re making it.’

Agni was already filling the kettle. Black with three sugars; not that there was any milk in the little bar-fridge anyway, the thing was empty.

Sebastian didn’t speak while Agni made it, and Agni wondered if the demon was sleeping again.

He rolled over slowly though, when Agni brought the mug over-- had he heard the footsteps on the carpet?-- and he still looked tired. Sullen.

He took the tea without glancing up. ‘How was the movie?’

‘I didn’t see much,’ said Agni, pulling up his chair to its usual spot. ‘I was talking to Wolf outside. Miss Sieglinde’s Wolf.’ 

‘Mhm. The German one, built like a refrigerator?’

‘Him, yes.’ 

‘I see.’ Sebastian put down his tea. ‘He never really struck me as the conversating type.’

‘No,’ said Agni. ‘Not everyone is like you.’ But he was smiling, despite the demon’s cutting tone. Because of it, actually. And it didn’t matter that Sebastian drank his tea in silence, and put down the empty mug, and huffed when he stretched himself out on the bed for Agni to check his injury.

Agni tried to move carefully. Tried to touch him professionally, impersonally. Wiping the dark gash, checking the seal of the surgical tape. But Sebastian’s body was warm and smooth and he could see the slow rise and fall of the demon’s ribs under his hands. The arc of his belly, and the waistband of his pants over his hips. The soft swell of his cock, a twitch in the corner of Agni’s vision.

‘This is good.’ Agni kept his eyes fixed on his own hands. ‘It’s getting better.’

‘Is it.’ Flatly. ‘I still can’t walk around for long. It’s been two day now. It’s a fucking shit-fight.’

Agni glanced up at him. ‘It’s been two days,’ he repeated drily, and he picked up the med-kit. ‘It’s doing a very good job of healing.’

‘I am doing a very good job of healing. But my fucking _body_ is fucking me over.’ Sebastian’s mouth was pressed together. 

Agni put down the med-kit again, and leaned over the bed. He rested his hand on the demon’s shoulder. Even through the t-shirt Sebastian’s body felt feverish. ‘I think you are,’ Agni said. ‘It’s a good job. You are quite remarkable.’ 

He didn’t plan to do it. But Sebastian’s mouth looked thin and tired and the sight of it twisted through Agni’s chest. 

He bent lower, and kissed the demon’s lips. A brush of a kiss.

He felt Sebastian breathe in sharply.

Agni stood up. He didn’t look at Sebastian. He took the med-kit back into the little white bathroom, as spotless and sterile as a scalpel, and put the kit away in the mirrored cabinet. He leaned against the sink and breathed very hard. He curled his hands around the cold porcelain.

A joke is one thing. _That_ was something he hadn’t seen coming.

He didn’t hear any footsteps. He only saw a dark shift in the mirror near his head. 

Agni sighed. ‘You should not be getting up again.’

Sebastian’s hand was warm on his back. Sliding to his hip. ‘You shouldn’t start a job you don’t intend to finish.’ Low and thoughtful behind him.

The demon was stronger than Agni had expected. Turning him around, fingers twisted into Agni’s shirt. Even looking like this, his face still pale and sharpened, he was strong. 

Agni let Sebastian push closer. Let him spread his hands flat across his chest and press him back against the sink. He was expecting this look. This, Sebastian’s long eyes dark and deep. His lean face tense.

But Agni wasn’t expecting the kiss. 

It was slow when Sebastian leaned in. When he tilted up his chin to reach. The lap of hot tongue against Agni’s lip. Sebastian’s hands sliding down his chest, and pushing under his jacket, and the grind of the demon’s hips against him. 

And Sebastian was hard, his cock rubbing impatiently on Agni's thigh.

Agni kissed back, slowly. Searchingly. Sebastian’s tongue was too hot and quick.

Sebastian pulled away first.

Agni’s head was dizzy.

‘Finish your job next time,’ said Sebastian quietly. ‘You lazy half-arsed corner-cutting fuck.’ His smile was brief, brilliant, as he leaned past Agni’s head to replace the antiseptic wipes from the med-kit into the cabinet. 

But he kept hold of Agni’s shirt, and when he closed the cabinet door again he leaned his head in close. Rested his forehead on Agni’s shoulder, and his dark hair smelt hot and human.

His fingers were firm, rubbing between Agni’s legs. Pressing through the heavy denim. ‘Oh.’ A satisfied sound when he found Agni’s semi. And then ‘ _Oh_.’ Quite differently. And Sebastian made a purring noise against Agni’s neck.

‘Well. Isn’t this a delight and a half.’ Sebastian’s fingers dug in deep and Agni flinched.

‘Mhm--’

‘This is nice. You should have told me.’ The demon was tracing the shape of Agni’s cock behind the zipper. Probing with his thumb.

‘ _Hn_. You have seen me in the gym.’ Agni half-gasped. Half-laughed. 

‘I haven’t seen you naked. I haven’t seen you hard. And you are _very_ hard. I could almost imagine you were in the mood for something.’

‘That tends to happen if you grab somebody’s-- _fuck._ ’

Sebastian was sucking at the side of his neck. And squeezing. His fingers were strong. 

Agni ran his hand down Sebastian’s shoulder, down the curve of his back, and the demon’s body was warm and firm. Shivering. Feverish. Agni pulled him close.

‘I want you to go back to bed,’ he said. Quietly against Sebastian’s hair. But the demon was unzipping him and sliding his fingers inside Agni’s jeans, and his grip was impossibly firm. His long restless fingers.

Agni thrust into Sebastian’s hand. ‘You _really_ \-- mhm. Need to be resting.’

‘I will if you come with me.’ Sebastian slid his other arm around Agni’s neck, and his weight was too unsteady against Agni’s chest.

‘Shit,’ said Agni, ‘shit, you idiot--’ He caught Sebastian’s shoulders. ‘Shit. I told you to not to--’

‘Don’t tell me what to do.’ Sebastian’s lips twisted. His nails curled into Agni’s dick. 

Agni sputtered. ‘Shit--’ 

His words were lost against Sebastian’s mouth. And Agni closed his eyes as he sank into the demon’s kiss, into the wet suck of Sebastian’s soft lips. As he shifted Sebastian against the wall. As he wrapped his fingers around Sebastian’s wrist and pulled the hot hand out of his open jeans, and zipped himself up again, and pulled away to sigh at the pale upturned face.

‘Bed,’ he said quietly. 

Sebastian’s fine face was set like ice, but he didn’t resist when Agni hooked his arm around him and lifted him carefully. And he was heavy, too heavy for his lean build and fine bones, and Agni had to hold his breath as he carried Sebastian back out and lowered the demon’s weight onto the waiting mattress.

‘Hell,’ he muttered, but Sebastian was watching him sharply. 

‘You didn’t have to do that.’

Agni was adjusting his jeans, half-irritated. ‘You didn’t have to do _that._ ’

Sebastian made a rude noise and tucked one arm under his pillow. ‘You really have no idea how tiresome it is up here. And if you dare suggest that I turn the TV on I’ll tear your throat out.’

He arched his back, just a little too much, and Agni didn’t let his eyes move down the demon’s outstretched body. 

‘I need you to get well, my friend.’ 

Sebastian’s fine face gathered. ‘What is your definition of friendship?’

‘Well, I would be upset if you died,’ said Agni. ‘I like to think I am a better nurse than that.’

Sebastian’s mouth curled into a smile. ‘I would be upset if you died,’ he said. ‘I haven’t fucked you yet.’

Agni reached for his jacket. ‘And afterwards?’

He heard Sebastian’s thoughtful sniff behind him. 

‘Well. It would depend on whether you were any good.’

Agni straightened his collar. 

The demon continued. ‘ _Are_ you any good?’

‘I have never had any complaints.’ Agni buttoned his jacket and brushed off his hands, even though they were clean. But Sebastian was looking at him and it made the back of his neck hot. ‘I will check on you tomorrow,’ he said. He glanced back at Sebastian’s tired face. ‘Tell me if there’s anything you--’

‘Fuck off,’ said Sebastian quietly. ‘Don’t ask me that again.’

‘Sleep well,’ said Agni, because that’s what he said to Soma and he couldn’t say _nothing_ before he walked out.

‘Hmm,’ said Sebastian. ‘You do irony very well for somebody who doesn’t understand it.’ He flopped his arm over his face. 

That was the closest thing to goodnight that Agni would get, so he left the quiet room and went back to his own quarters. Checked on Soma. 

And he managed to get through his shower and into bed before he let himself pay attention to the ache of his waiting cock.

Saturday morning he awoke a little later; the room was light already. The sun was pale and close, a bare-bulb glint behind the sailing clouds.

Agni went down at breakfast time but when he got there he wasn’t even hungry. He watched Soma from across the cafeteria, sliding into the seat beside Sieglinde and the Phantomhive kid, and he pushed his hands thoughtfully in his pockets as he made his way back up the stairs.

He didn’t want breakfast. Only a cup of tea; and he might as well make Sebastian some as well.

When Agni entered, the demon was sitting up, cross-legged under his blankets. His hands curled in his lap. His head was tilted back against the headboard, but his eyes were half-open. 

‘Morning,’ said Agni. 

‘I’m sick of looking at this ceiling. We should go into town some time.’

‘Maybe when you are feeling better.’

‘There’s a place next to the National Museum.’

Agni smiled as he filled the kettle. He had his back turned, after all. Sebastian wouldn’t see it. ‘What kind of place?’

‘Good kirsch and bad jazz.’

‘A date,’ said Agni. ‘Cute.’

‘Fuck off, it’s alcohol. Isn’t that a person thing?’

‘It sounds like a date.’

‘Fuck off.’

‘You said that already,’ said Agni. ‘But I would love to. Will you pick me up at seven?’ 

‘I’ll tear you skin from bone.’

‘Maybe next time.’

‘I should go for a walk.’

‘We might leave that for next time, too.’

‘Why not today?’

‘Because yesterday you tried to give me a handjob and you nearly fainted.’

‘Fuck off.’

‘We have a job to do, anyway. Or at least I have a job, and you are lying around doing nothing--’

‘I’m sure we can take a break.’

‘The kids.’ 

‘I’ll know if Ciel’s in trouble. ’

‘Oh, so you do care?’ Agni looked back over his shoulder.

‘Of course I’d rather he didn’t die. I put quite a lot of effort in, so far.’

‘Which you are paid for.’

‘Of course I’m fucking paid. So are you.’

‘I would be upset if Soma were to die.’ Agni spoke carefully, as though explaining to a child. But even a child would have more chance of understanding this. ‘He is like family.’

‘He’s a mortal. Mortals die,’ said Sebastian. ‘It’s kind of a defining trait.’

Agni turned and looked at the demon’s dark eyes. Sebastian’s mouth was curved into an ironic smile.

‘I’m mortal,’ said Agni.

‘Ah.’ Sebastian looked away. ‘You’re not as bad as some of them.’

‘Because you say so?’

Sebastian didn’t look back over.

‘A human life is only valuable because you say so?’

‘Soma’s is valuable to you because _you_ say so.’ Not sharply, only thoughtfully.

‘It would be valuable if I had never met him. It has a value that has nothing to do with me.’

‘Nor me.’ Sebastian’s eyes were glittering now. ‘Who makes him valuable, then? His mother makes him _expensive._ Does she make him valuable, too?’

‘Nobody does.’ And the demon was making Agni find words for things that had only ever been thoughts in his head. ‘Even if Soma had nobody important to love him. No-one at all to love him, he would have value.’

‘Value is a judgement.’ Sebastian was lying still. ‘Judgement requires a judge.’

Agni shook his head. ‘It doesn’t work like that.’ He turned back to fill the mugs.

‘What is my value, then?’

‘To me? You are my friend.’

‘You don’t even know me.’

‘I know enough to like you.’ Agni smiled. ‘These things don’t have to be difficult.’

‘You’d prefer to keep things simple, then?’

‘If I can,’ said Agni. He brought over Sebastian’s tea and set it down by the bed. ‘I know my value, and I do not worry about it often.’

‘Mhm. What’s your value?’

Agni considered. ‘I’m good at my job.’

‘You’re good at your job. You have a decent work ethic. You don’t talk too much. And your cock is--’ Sebastian licked his lips-- ‘memorable.’

‘You want to go for a walk?’

‘Honestly, what’s the point of even having it if you don’t use it?’

‘We can go for a walk.’ Agni opened Sebastian’s wardrobe door. ‘Around the garden.’ 

‘I’d rather you just come here and fuck me.’

Agni was pulling out clothes. Dark jeans, a clean t-shirt. Sweater, wool. Or cashmere, probably. Jacket, wool; it was cloudy. The air would be bitterly cold. ‘Do you have an overcoat somewhere? You’re always complaining about the temperature.’

Agni returned to the bedside and stopped. Sebastian was watching him, laid back amongst the pillows. Quite naked. Palming himself slowly, a trail of his pale fingers over the flushed underside of his cock. His other hand lay loose amongst the sheets. The white square of the gauze dressing was a crease over his ribs.

‘Come here.’

‘Get up.’

‘Come here.’ Sebastian pushed his hand lower, rubbing into the softness of his balls. He arched his back, a tilt of his sharp hips. Grinding his ass into the mattress. Thrusting slowly into his hand.

Agni’s throat tightened. ‘We should go. Before it starts to rain.’ 

But he was looking at the undulation of the demon’s body, pale on the pale sheets. The slow rhythm of his hips. Sebastian’s heavy cock, restless under his own hand.

‘Do you want me to--’

‘Get the fuck on the bed.’

Agni took off his jacket and dropped it on the chair. He climbed onto the bed.

Sebastian parted his long bare legs for him, settled them wide, and Agni could smell the warm heat of his arousal. Tumbled under his own teasing hand. A shift of strong slim fingers over the thickened cock, its dark shaft mottled with the mark of his grip.

Agni bent his head to kiss Sebastian’s thigh, watching the flex of muscle as the demon shivered. ‘What do you want?’

‘I want to cum,’ said Sebastian. ‘I want you.’

Agni’s hands shook as he knelt up and unzipped his jeans. Shuffled them down, and rubbed at the swell of his cock. He felt Sebastian’s eyes move over him in hunger. In approval. And when he leaned in again and straddled the demon’s legs, Sebastian’s hands slid slowly down his chest, under his t-shirt. And down.

Agni felt the strong grip close around him and he moved against it slowly. Against Sebastian’s hand, against the firm grind of his body, and he settled his hands into the mattress on either side of the demon’s hips.

Sebastian’s face was sharp. ‘I think you should put it inside me.’

‘I think this is enough.’

Agni jolted forwards. Sebastian had grabbed his shirt.

And the demon kissed him hard on the mouth. It felt more like a sting. Sebastian pulled away and bit his lips. ‘Put it in.’ And he frowned. ‘What’s so funny?’

‘Oh.’ Agni didn’t know he’d been smiling. ‘You just seem very impatient, for somebody who has all the time in the world.’

Sebastian’s eyes didn’t soften. ‘I haven’t,’ he said. ‘Not enough time. Not with you.’

Agni met the hard hot gaze. Dark-lashed, glowing. ‘Ah,’ he said. ‘If I didn't know better, I would think you were--’

‘Lube’s in the drawer,’ said Sebastian.

Agni was still smiling when he reached across the bed to the little table. Found the drawer. Saw the lube, and a brushed-steel plug and two vibrators and a whole handful of rings, and he grinned back over at Sebastian. 

‘You get bored easily, don’t you?’

‘Just hurry up.’

‘Do you have any condoms? I can--’

‘Agni.’ Sebastian’s sharpened teeth were a glitter when he bared them. ‘Do I look like I give a fuck?’

‘Well,’ said Agni. ‘Not exactly. But you look as if you might need one.’

He saw the rise and fall of Sebastian’s bare chest as he squeezed a glisten of lube onto the smooth skin and rubbed his fingers through it. Slippery in a line down the demon’s pale breastbone, coating his palm, and then the length of his cock. And he pumped himself slowly as Sebastian shifted on the bed, wrapping his leg around Agni’s hip. 

And Agni pressed his wet fingertips below Sebastian’s tightening balls to the shiver of his hole.

Hot and tight and he felt Sebastian squeeze him. Felt himself pulse in his hand in response.

‘I don’t want that,’ said Sebastian. He hissed, rocking his hips. ‘I want your cock.’

‘You are being stupid. You are not ready to--’

‘You’re not going to break me, hurry up.’

Agni slid out his fingers. ‘One moment. Let me finish.’

‘You can finish inside me. Hurry the fuck _up_ \--’

Agni pushed in his cock. 

Sebastian gasped.

The demon felt as hot, as delicious as he looked. Smooth and tight and Agni wanted to see himself slide deeper into Sebastian’s body. Watch the slick glide of it. But he wanted to see the demon’s face, and he looked up.

Sebastian’s eyes were heavy-lidded, watching him. ‘You--’ It was breathless. ‘You’re good.’

Agni held the demon’s knee as he fucked in, deep and slow, pulling back out to the tip and sliding in again. And his blood was burning already. He rolled his hips, following the rhythm of the demon’s breaths. It had been so long since he’d had anyone under him like this. And never quite like this. Never these eyes, two coals piercing through his skin. His mind. 

He let himself ride the wave of it, and each shove was rewarded by Sebastian’s broken sounds. By the ripple pumping through his own body. Until his knees shook on the bed and he felt the demon's leg tense around his hip.

Sebastian arched against him. ‘Harder--’

Agni leaned in to grip the headboard, and his other hand found the tangle of the demon’s hair as he thrust in more firmly, grinding close. He tried to move carefully but Sebastian's body was folded under him. Rocked against the mattress, and he pushed harder still.

Sebastian caught him by the wrist and Agni flinched at the suck of the hot mouth on his fingers. But the demon was trailing Agni’s fingers lower, down over his lips and his chin, and under it. Agni frowned, shifting on his knees.

‘What do you--’

‘Hard,’ Sebastian whispered. ‘Please.’

Agni curled his hand around Sebastian’s throat. Pressed his thumb deep in the demon’s windpipe. And heard the hiss.

‘Fuck. Yesss--’

His head tilted back against the mattress. Agni felt the anguished squeeze of his body as he reached the edge. Sebastian’s cock quivered between their bodies. He came wet on his own chest.

Agni slowed in the tightening heat, letting Sebastian shiver through his peak. 

But the demon’s eyes were sharp slits. ‘Don’t-- don’t stop--’

‘It will hurt you if I--’

Sebastian grabbed Agni’s hair. ‘Fuck you. Don’t _stop_.’ His fingernails scratched down Agni’s neck. 

Agni didn’t stop. He pushed in deeply, feeling the ache of his own orgasm blazing through his body. The demon’s nails sharp in his skin. And he cupped Sebastian’s hips close to him when he came inside him, holding the hot body steady while he shivered and slowed.

Sebastian’s hand was limp, curled around the back of Agni’s neck. His breaths were shaky when Agni pulled out. ‘Well,’ he said. He cleared his throat. ‘ _Well._ ’ 

Agni smiled. And lowered himself onto the tremble of Sebastian’s damp chest. He slid his arm carefully under the demon’s shoulder. ‘Will you shut up now?’

‘Hmm?’

Agni closed his eyes. ‘That was what you wanted, yes?’ He touched his fingers lightly to the pad over Sebastian’s wound. To the dip of his navel, the smear of cum over his skin. 

‘Yes,’ said Sebastian quietly. ‘Yes.’ His hand closed over Agni’s, those long slim fingers of his. Hot, twining. ‘You’re not completely shit at that. For a human.’

'Thank you.'

'I wasn't complimenting you.'

'I think you were.' Agni turned his head just enough to press his lips to Sebastian’s collar-bone. ‘Tomorrow,’ he said, ‘tomorrow we’re going for a walk.’

Sebastian was silent, with his warm hand loose over Agni’s. 

And Agni realised the demon had fallen asleep quietly in his arms.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
